Ground anchor with yielding means



July 4, 1967 v, F E 3,328,928

GROUND ANCHOR WITH YIELDING MEANS Filed Sept. 50, 19 65 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. I

1 N VENTOR. +6 NORMAN V. FRYE July 4, 1967 N. v. FRYE GROUND ANCHOR WITH YIELDING MEANS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 30, 1965 FIG.

INVENTOR. NORMAN V. FRYE United States Patent 3,328,928 GROUND ANCHOR WITH YIELDING MEANS Norman V. Frye, RR. 4, Davenport, Iowa 52805 Filed Sept. 30, 1965, Ser. No. 491,756 9 Claims. (Cl. 52-157) This invention relates to ground anchor of the type including a ground-penetrating part and an upwardly projecting part adapted to receive a support. The invention in its preferred forms finds particular, but not limited, utility in the erection of poles or posts for lawn or court games employing nets, such as volley ball, badminton, etc. It may be exploited also in the erection of poles for temporary fences and like.

Anchors of this general type are known (e.g., my US. Patents 3,076,532 and 3,197,928) but are susceptible to improvement in the way of affording economy of design and manufacture, versatility as to use in different types of soil, and, above all, the ability to yield to and recover without damage from the application of a variety of forces, such as occur when participants run into the net or the supporting .pole or poles or the like.

It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide a new and improved anchor means for frictionally gripping the lower, socketed end of a support, pole, etc., which means is further yieldable, without disconnection from such support or pole, to bending forces applied thereto. It is an important object to connect the poleor support-receiving part to the ground-penetrating part by a generally horizontal torsion member capable of twisting and recovering about its principal axis, thereby providing a generally universally yieldable mounting functioning normally to keep its support in proper position. A still further object resides in the provision of the ground-penetrating part as a spade having stabilizing portions thereon enabling easy insertion thereof into a variety of soils and at the same time fixing said spade against twisting, bending, etc., especially in sandy soils.

These and other important objects and features will appear as the description of two preferred embodiments progresses, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a general view, on a reduced scale, showing the use of the invention in the erection of a net such as is used for volley ball, badminton, etc.;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged view of one anchor in relation to the ground but without a mounted support or pole;

FIGURE 3 shows the normal mounting of a tubular pole or support (shown in section) on the mounting part;

FIGURE 4 shows the deflection of the mounting part as when a bending force is applied to the pole or support;

FIGURE 5 is a plan of the anchor of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a view similar to FIGURE 6 but illustrates torsional yielding when a force is applied at right angles to the bending force of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged elevation of a modified form of ground-penetrating part;

FIGURE 9 is an end view of the same;

FIGURE 10 is a plan View; and

FIGURE 11 is a section on the line 11-11 of FIG- URE 10.

In that form of the invention shown in FIGURES 17, the ground anchor comprises first and second parts and 22 joined together by a horizontal means in the form of a torsion member 24 of steel or the like. The first or ground-penetrating part 20 is here a screw integral with the member or bar 24; although, any other form of penetrating element may be employed, such as in my earlier patent; and the .part 20 and member 24 may be hingedly ice interconnected as in my later patent. These details are not material here.

The second or mounting part 22 is preferably integral with the bar 24 and takes the form of an inverted U having an uppermost bight 26 and first and sec-0nd depending, divergent legs 28 and 30, the former joined to the bar 24 and the latter terminating in a free lower end 32 which may include a vertical pivot 34 to which a pair of relatively stiff but flexible wings 36 are connected. These wings, together with the headed pivot and washer, afford ground-engaging means to prevent the free end of the leg 30 from digging into the ground when inward forces are applied. If desired, the wings could be omitted and reliance placed on the headed rivet and washers or any equivalent means of an effective ground-engaging area greater than the free end of the leg per se.

The bar 24 is relatively slender and elongated and the parts 20 and 22 project from its opposite ends in opposite vertical directions, giving the unit a crank-like configuration whereby the part 22 serves as a handle to screw the part 20 into the ground. The part 22 projects upwardly for mounting a pole or post 38, and, where used in erecting a volley ball net 40, for example, two similar poles are used with two similar anchors. Each pole is, in practice, tubular and thus its lower end has a downwardly opening socket 42, here cylindrical.

Each anchor is such that the screw part 20 fully penetrates the ground and the torsion bar 24 is horizontal or substantially so, the leg 28 being substantially to the ground. The transverse dimension A of the bight enables the bight to slidably upwardly fit the socketed lower end 42 of the pole 38, and the second or free leg 30 diverges so that the transverse dimension B at the bottom is greater than A (FIG. 2) whereby, when the pole 38 is fully telescoped downwardly onto the part 22, the leg 30 is deflected toward the other leg 28. However, in this condition, the legs 28 and 30 are not in contact and, being springy, are constantly biased apart, whereby a substantially tight friction fit results (FIG. 3).

The wings 36 may be selectively angularly positioned as suggested in broken lines in FIG. 5, depending upon the expected forces that may be applied to the pole or poles 38.

In normal conditions, the flexure created by the springy legs 28 and 30 will keep the poles upright and maintain proper tension in the net 40, the two legs being normally generally parallel. Should an extreme force be applied to the net perpendicular to its length, the tendency of the poles will be to bend inwardly. In former devices, the poles would actually bend if the force were great enough. According to the present invention, however, the spaced apart legs 28 and 30 enable further relative deflection (FIG. 4) so that the free leg 30 may deflect still further toward the other leg 28, allowing the pole to incline inwardly without actually bending itself. Such force, applied to the net as said, has a component acting generally in a vertical plane bisecting both legs 28 and 30. Similar forces would result were a player to run into the pole from outside the field; If the force were applied in the opposite direction, the torsion bar 24 would yield in bending and the legs of the opposite anchor would defiect in the manner just described. If a force at right angles to the net is applied directly to a pole the torsion bar 24 would twist and ultimately recover about its principal axis. If the blades or wings 36 are extended at right angles to the torsion bar, the one opposing the force would yield in bending (FIG. 7). The design is such that forces short of destructive are readily accommodated and the parts quickly recover to their normal positions. The frictional grip established by the diver-gent springy legs 28 and 30 prevents disconnection of the poles from the anchors in all but the most violent situations.

In FIGS. 8-11, the inverted U feature has been applied to a generally V-shaped spade 20', the one leg 23 being afiixed, as by welding at 24, to the spade and the free leg 30 diverging from its bight 26 to form the second or mounting part 22, the spade 20' of course being the first or ground-penetrating part. In this case, the legs and bight may be formed from half-round stock (FIG. 11) giving, for one thing, a flat side for welding at 24.

The spade is especially useful in sandy or other loose soil and is further effective because of the stabilizing effect of its corrugated or sinuous horizontal section whereby it has ribs or contiguous conoavo-convex vertical portions 20" to resist forces applied, for example, at right angles to the plane that bisects the legs 28 and 30 (a force that would be applied directly to one of the poles at 90 to the plane of the net where two such anchors are used as in FIG. 1). The free top edges of the spade are rolled as at 25 to improve its configuration for enabling it to be forced into the soil as by ones foot or other forces.

Features and advantages other than those set forth will readily occur to those skilled in the art, as will many modifications of the preferred embodiments disclosed, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A ground anchor erecting a support of the type having a lower end provided with a downwardly opening socket, comprising: a first, ground-penetrating part, and a second part connected to said first part to project upwardly for receipt within the socket, said second part including a portion of inverted U shape having an uppermost bight and first and second legs integral with and depending from said bight, said first leg being alfixed at its lower end to said first part and said second leg lying alongside and in closely spaced relation to said first leg and having a lower, free terminal end, said bight being dimensioned to fit the socket and said legs diverging from the bight to a larger dimension, said second part being of springy material enabling said second leg to be deflected yieldingly toward said first leg below the bight upon insertion thereof into the socket whereby to frictionally grip said socket, the spacing between the lower ends of the legs when deflected relatively by receipt into the socket being such that said lower ends are out of contact with each other so as to enable further deflection of said second leg toward the other in response to a bending force applied to the support in a vertical plane bisecting both legs.

2. The invention defined in claim 1 in which: the free end of the second leg has ground-engaging means of greater effective area than the cross-sectional area of said second leg.

3. The invention defined in claim 1, in which: said two parts are horizontally offset and the first part depends below and the second part projects above the ground, and horizontal means extends between and interconnects said parts to normally retain said second part upright, said horizontal means being capable of twisting and recovering about its principal axis in response to the application and removal of forces to and from said second part in a vertical plane perpendicular to and intersecting said principal axis.

4. The invention defined in claim 1, in which: said two parts are horizontally offset and the first part depends below and the second part projects above the ground, and horizontal mean extends between and interconnects said parts to normally retain said second part upright, said horizontal means comprising an elongated, relatively slender torsion member capable of twisting and recovering about its principal axis in response to the application and removal of forces to and from said second part in a vertical plane perpendicular to and intersecting said principal axis.

5. The invention defined in claim 4, including: a pair of elongated spring-like wing elements pivoted to the free end of the second leg on a common upright axis and adapted selectively to extend horizontally at various angles to said torsion member and adapted to flex in response to either of the aforesaid forces.

6. The invention defined in claim 4 in which: the free end of the second leg has ground-engaging means of greater effective area than the cross-sectional area of said second leg.

7. The invention defined in claim 1, in which: said first part is in the form of a ground-penetrating spade.

8. The invention defined in claim 7, in which: said spade has a plurality of vertical ground-receivable ribs.

9. The invention defined in claim 7, in which: said spade is of sinuous horizontal section to provide a plurality of contiguous eoncavo-convex ground-penetrating stabilizing portions.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,786,641 3/1957 Applegate 24846 3,076,532 2/1963 Frye 52-157 3,197,928 8/1965 Frye 52-157 FOREIGN PATENTS 265,715 2/1927' Great Britain. 798,426 7/1958 Great Britain.

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner.

R. S. VERMUT, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A GROUND ANCHOR ERECTING A SUPPORT OF THE TYPE HAVING A LOWER END PROVIDED WITH A DOWNWARDLY OPENING SOCKET, COMPRISING: A FIRST, GROUND-PENETRATING PART, AND A SECOND PART CONNECTED TO SAID FIRST PART TO PROJECT UPWARDLY FOR RECEIPT WITHIN THE SOCKET, SAID SECOND PART INCLUDING A PORTION OF INVERTED U SHAPE HAVING AN UPPERMOST BIGHT AND FIRST AND SECOND LEGS INTEGRAL WITH AND DEPENDING FROM SAID BIGHT, SAID FIRST LEG BEING AFFIXED AT ITS LOWER END TO SAID FIRST PART AND SAID SECOND LEG LYING ALONGSIDE AND IN CLOSELY SPACED RELATION TO SAID FIRST LEG AND HAVING A LOWER, FREE TERMINAL END, SAID BIGHT BEING DIMENSIONED TO FIT THE SOCKET AND SAID LEGS DIVERGING FROM THE BIGHT TO A LARGER DIMENSION, SAID SECOND PART BEING OF SPRINGY MATERIAL ENABLING SAID SECOND LEG TO BE DEFLECTED YIELDINGLY TOWARD SAID FIRST LEG BELOW THE BIGHT UPON INSERTION THEREOF INTO THE SOCKET WHEREBY TO FRICTIONALLY GRIP SAID SOCKET, THE SPACING BETWEEN THE LOWER ENDS OF THE LEGS WHEN DEFLECTED RELATIVELY BY RECEIPT INTO THE SOCKET BEING SUCH THAT SAID LOWER ENDS ARE OUT OF CONTACT WITH EACH OTHER SO AS TO ENABLE FURTHER DEFLECTION OF SAID SECOND LEG TOWARD THE OTHER IN RESPONSE TO A BENDING FORCE APPLIED TO THE SUPPORT IN A VERTICAL PLANE BISECTING BOTH LEGS. 